New Who in drabbles
by Eledhwen
Summary: Ultimately all three seasons of the new Doctor Who, in drabbles. Season 4, mostly from Donna's point of view, with spoilers for the whole series.
1. Season 1

_**Disclaimer:**__ They belong to the BBC and I am just playing._

_**Author's note:**__ For the LJ community drabblingwho; each season of New Who will be a separate chapter of 13 100-word drabbles. For Season 1 I've mainly concentrated on minor characters._

**Season 1**

**Rose**

Run! Afterwards, she always thought that it was strange how the first word the Doctor ever spoke to her seemed to characterise their whole life together. Running, from mannequins come to life. Running, from plastic Mickey. Running from alien monsters. Running from her boring, mundane life.

She hadn't really been thinking about running - definitely not about running right away from Earth itself. But there was the Doctor's big grin, and his firm grip when he seized her hand, and the promise of the universe spread out in front of her.

How could she ever have considered running away from that?

**The End of the World**

Rose has never felt more alone than when she stands looking down at the Earth, with a time-travelling alien who sounds like he's from the North at her side. The blue and green sphere, so familiar from pictures, is so far away, so long ago. Yet there's her mother on the end of the phone, chattering away as if nothing has changed.

Everything has changed, of course, including herself. She witnesses the death of the last human, and sees a void where the Earth once was. But standing amid the bustle of London, she knows she'll never be alone again.

**The Unquiet Dead**

She's brave enough to talk to Rose Tyler about what she sees in her past, and in her future. But Gwyneth cannot speak to her companion - this Doctor - about the images he stirs in her mind. Flames, and dust, and the screaming. So much screaming. And there are so many faces, and so many voices - all his, but not his, in a way she does not understand. Rose is strange, and bright, but warm-hearted and completely human. The Doctor is not; he is ice-hard and flame-hot, an unforgiving tempest. And that scares Gwyneth more than her own, inescapable, immediate future.

**Aliens of London**

That was the day her life changed. That was the day many people's lives changed, she knew that; but Toshiko rather thought hers changed more. It was only by chance that she was even doing the shift in autopsy that day - away from the computers - and so it was only by chance she was given the alien to examine.

But once the alien - no, the pig, the pig in a spacesuit - had been killed, Toshiko found her mind dwelling on the man who had appeared to help catch it, and wind in her hair, that sound ringing in her ears.

**World War III**

The cottage hospitals Bill is probably a lost cause, Harriet reflects, as the Doctor flicks a switch and encloses them inside the Cabinet Rooms. But then the Prime Minister is dead, and the nice young secretary man - why _did_ she never ask his name?

The emergency protocols are useless; but this strange Doctor seems to know what he's talking about. His enthusiastic blonde companion might be somewhat inclined towards blowing things up, but she acts like she trusts him. On balance, Harriet Jones finds herself rather glad to have fallen in with this pair.

She's even gladder after the election.

**Dalek**

She has worked for Van Statten for some time now. A couple of years, perhaps, coming in after she left the Army. It seemed a logical move - swapping the hot, sandy discomfort of the desert battlefield for good pay and relative safety in the Utah bunker. Dark underground, and dull work, but it paid the bills.

But somehow De Maggio has always known she would die in battle, facing an enemy gun. She hadn't thought the enemy would be an alien, or that the final battlefield would be this anonymous concrete staircase - but it makes sense. She's ready. She fires.

**The Long Game**

Frankly, the Mighty Jagrafess is _not_ amused. Too many things have gone wrong recently, and if the Editor wasn't so difficult to replace he'd have replaced him long ago. The irritating being known as the Doctor and his blue box should never have been allowed to land on Satellite Five; bringing the freedom fighter up to Level 500 was another grave mistake.

But something else is wrong - it seems to be getting hotter. The Jagrafess tries a good roar at the Editor - it always worked in the past. This time, however, holding the front page would still be too late.

**Father's Day**

He just ran out. Ran out from the church and straight in front of me, there was nothing I could do. It was almost like he meant to do it - but nobody could explain why, not his mates or his wife.

I'll remember that accident for the rest of my life. The weird thing is that sometimes, in my dreams, it doesn't happen there near the church, but round the corner by the estate. And in those dreams there's a man and a girl watching, the same girl who comforted him in life. I don't know why I dream that.

**The Empty Child**

He knows too much, does this Doctor. _Sees_ too much. Nancy doesn't know how he got into the house, or what he thinks about … about the child, but she's sure she doesn't like it. There's something about the way he looks at her that's pitying, and calculating, and it disturbs her. He's not from round about, that's obvious, but Nancy reckons he might be from further away than the North. It's the way he talks, the way he moves, the things he's asking about.

She doesn't like it, but she'll help him, because he might just help her back.

**The Doctor Dances**

At heart, Jack Harkness is a coward. He's always been a coward, a liar, and a cheat; he'd rather run from something or talk his way out of it than confront it straight on.

Not like these two, the Doctor and Rose. Somehow, even when they're running - and they seem to do a lot of running, from what he's gathered - they're still fighting. Fighting together, and laughing together. Nobody has looked at Jack like the way Rose looks at the Doctor for far too long. Watching them dance, he realises he wants someone to gaze at him like that again.

**Boom Town**

It was never really established what happened to Margaret Blaine after the earthquake. She had, witnesses said, been seen in a restaurant on the Docks that night, sharing a bottle of red wine and talking closely with a man in a leather jacket. But try as she might, Cathy failed to find any source who had seen either the Mayor or leather-jacket man after the sudden earthquake. And once Blaine had disappeared, so did the _Blaidd Drwg_ project, and Cathy's editor refused to run her story, saying there was no point any more. 

Cathy disagreed, but the scoop was gone.

**Bad Wolf**

Being in the House wasn't all that bad, not really, not at first. Lynda was surprised at how not-bad it was, considering all she'd heard. The housemates were great - most of them - there was plenty to do, for the tasks, and the food was okay. And it could've been _Ground Force_.

As the weeks went by and each housemate in turn got eliminated, the tension rose and Lynda began to wish she could go too, if only to end the waiting. It was only when the Doctor held out his hand to her that Lynda found the courage she needed.

**The Parting of the Ways**

So this is it. This is the end. And though he knows it isn't, really, it hurts - hurts more than the pain of the Vortex in his head - to know that he will never again see Rose through these eyes, speak to her in this voice, take her hand in this hand.

What if it goes wrong, because of the Vortex? What if he tries to kill Rose, what if he succeeds? Would that guilt weigh more on his soul than Gallifrey? 

There is no time to warn her now; there is time only to tell her - she was fantastic.


	2. Season 2

_**Disclaimer:**__ They belong to the BBC and I am just playing._

_**Author's note:**__ Season 2 - from the Doctor's perspective._

**Season 2**

**The Christmas Invasion**

Void stuff, swirling inside his head. It's not right, he feels wrong, unknown, lost. There's no TARDIS, there's no Rose, there's just him and the terrifying eternity of the Void.

He wakes, briefly; long enough to know there's something not right but not long enough to be able to do anything about it before the Void engulfs him again.

It is the aroma of Jackie Tyler's strong, sweet tea that rouses him. He does not know who he is, but he does know _why_ he is. He can help. And he knows why he'll help - the human race, worth saving.

**New Earth**

The coat and suit feel odd, but good; Rose's hand in his feels blissfully normal and reassuring. And the apple grass smells just as good as last time he popped by New New York.

And the Face of Boe knows who he is, which is somehow reassuring. After that, everything is definitely back to normal - dastardly plot to uncover and overthrow, his companion possessed by today's villain. 

Except something has changed. He finds his moods swing more, intense joy to pure anger. As they leave Cassandra to die, the Doctor knows for sure he's not the same man he was.

**Tooth and Claw**

The Doctor feels Jamie would have been proud of his efforts at a Scottish accent. In fact, Jamie would have enjoyed the whole affair - being in Scotland, meeting a Queen, the werewolf … 

In the meantime, of course, there's Rose, and she's _definitely_ enjoying herself, danger notwithstanding. Possibly because of the danger, which is a sign that she's maybe been travelling with him too long.

Even despite Queen Victoria deciding to ban them, with words that cut more deeply than the Doctor will let himself admit, as they take off again he is feeling happier than he has for ages.

**School Reunion**

His Sarah Jane. He's always avoided going back to old companions, because they'll have aged, changed, and he'll have regenerated. But Sarah Jane's age sits gracefully on her - she is beautiful, as beautiful as ever, and apparently as curious as ever. He wishes he could sweep her into a hug, here, now, in the middle of the staffroom, although it would blow both their covers. Instead, he contents himself with grinning at her like a maniac and willing her to make the connection he cannot say outright.

Later, he finds little needs to be said. She's still his Sarah Jane.

**The Girl in the Fireplace**

She's just a girl that needs help, one girl like so many others before her. Just a girl in a fireplace. But she _sees_ him, sees him like nobody else has ever seen him since he left Gallifrey. She's broken down the barriers so carefully constructed inside his head, the stone walls Rose has been chipping away at. Reinette shatters them in a moment, with a kiss and a touch and a look. And even though the Doctor knows there's a girl on the other side of the fireplace too, he'll give it all up for right here, right now.

**Rise of the Cybermen**

It's cold in the console room, cold and dark. There's no hum, no life. The TARDIS is dead. The sense of wrong-ness surrounds him; reaching out with his mind to his ship he encounters only the Void.

Mickey the Idiot tries to understand, and the Doctor gives him credit for that. But nobody can really understand, not even Rose, though she'd be a comfort if she were here.

But there's a spark, a mere spark … he delves underneath the console, all his senses searching for that elusive, tiny breath of life. He finds it. The cold begins to lift.

**The Age of Steel**

Humans - even when encased in something as wrong as steel and wire - are always so easy to distract. It's all in the movement, the chatter. The Doctor's fairly sure Mickey the Idiot has probably reached his goal by now and ought to be watching; he's equally sure that despite the nickname Mickey is capable of doing what needs to be done. 

Lumic, of course, is caught up in the spectacular grand folly of his plan and does not see the danger. And the Cybermen die, as they've died before in another universe. Some things - like human beings - will never change.

**The Idiot's Lantern**

One of the most sacred promises the Doctor has ever made was the one he made to Jackie Tyler - that he would look after Rose. He remembers that now, gazing at her blank features and knowing her mind is screaming to escape. His interest in the mystery of the stolen faces narrows, focusing to a sharp point of burning anger. It's not only his promise to Jackie that he's remembering, it's Rose's face as he showed her the Earth from above for the first time, her delight in her pink dress that morning. Someone is about to pay, and soon. 

**The Impossible Planet**

The Doctor tries to imagine a normal life. He's pretended to have a normal life before, of course - for various reasons, such as Susan - but he's never _had_ to hold down a job, or live anywhere solid and unmoving, not for long. The thought is terrifying. Rose, who for once has had more experience with these things, seems fairly sanguine about the idea. Even cheerful, as if she'd enjoy it, as if she could ever go back to shops and council estates and just live her life. 

Perhaps staring at the black hole until madness comes is the better option.

**The Satan Pit**

When you have the whole of time and space to play with, religion doesn't count for much. The Doctor's always viewed the belief systems of the various planets as a curiosity. He's looked on at ceremonies, been to the odd wedding, the occasional baptism, a few funerals - he's watched the way belief in a higher being can support a person. That belief is, he's found, truly universal. It doesn't matter where or when he goes, there's always something.

As he lets go of the wire, he thinks he might understand why. Belief makes the fall into the dark less terrifying.

**Love and Monsters**

It's a bit of a shock, seeing Elton Pope all grown up and attacked by _another_ alien. Technically, the first time it was his mother being attacked, but nevertheless the Doctor finds himself wondering how some people attract trouble more than others.

He's very tempted to leave Elton to the mercies of the Abzorbaloff, but he can't help but remember the small boy crying for his mother. Now Elton, like so many others before him, is helpless - except for his friends. They're definitely not wanting Elton to join them, and in the end the Doctor need only stand and watch.

**Fear Her**

Being stuck in a picture is somewhat like being trapped behind a veil. It's grey, and not quite solid; he can see a giant Rose and feel her panic but he can't do anything about it. It's immensely frustrating, and all the while the Isolus is drawing, drawing, drawing more and more people into this grey half-world. 

The TARDIS is here with him, a solid, reassuring bulk. But he can't get into it - the key is in his pocket, and the Isolus conveniently (deliberately?) forgot to draw the pocket.

But his mind still operates. Inspiration strikes. He gets to work. 

**Army of Ghosts**

They stand in a wild and beautiful world, the raptors circling overhead, and he holds her hand, and dares to ask the question he's avoided. Her answer is immediate, warm, full of human certainty. Forever.

He smiles, and lets himself drown in the thought. Nobody's ever stayed that long - even Sarah Jane, even Jamie, they could not stay forever.

And there's something coming, something out there, something he can't predict. Rose is blissfully unaware, caught up in their travels, but it's putting the Doctor's teeth on edge.

He's terrified that forever may turn out to be a very short time.

**Doomsday**

Silence. The breach closes.

He lets go of the magnet, his fingers white and cramped from hanging on, and walks forward to what is now just a wall. Just a plain white wall in an echoing, empty room. Although he knows, knows deep in his heart there is nothing on the other side but steel and concrete and plaster, he listens for a moment.

Silence. He turns, and walks away, away from the breach - away from Rose. He's been alone before, but he hasn't felt this crushing weight of it for a long time.

All that's left now is goodbye.


	3. Season 3

_**Disclaimer:**__ They belong to the BBC and I am just playing._

_**Author's note:**__ Season 3 - from Martha's point of view._

**Season 3**

**The Runaway Bride**

The word echoes through the chamber. Gallifrey. It resounds in her head, pierces her heart.

Gallifrey. _Time Lord_. The Empress remembers the flames, remembers the cries of her people - her children - as they died. So long ago, so very long, but so near, so clear in her memory.

The Doctor stands there, imperious, stone-cold. She knows who he is now, the murderer of his own, slayer of the Daleks, the Oncoming Storm. As she rages, lost in her anger, the storm comes down. Her children burn, burn and drown in the Time Lord's wrath.

All she can do is run.

**Smith and Jones**

She should be terrified. Hell, everybody else seems terrified. But for some reason - and try as she might, as she gazes at the surface of the Moon, Martha can't work out why - she can't find it in herself to be terrified.

Instead, she feels something bubbling up inside her. It's there when she looks at the man who calls himself "the Doctor". It's even there when she finds Florence Finnegan sucking at Mr Stoker's neck. It's definitely there when the Doctor kisses her.

By the time Martha Jones steps inside the TARDIS, she knows she's not terrified - she's just excited.

**The Shakespeare Code**

Martha Jones is learning about power. 

Shakespeare's power is in words, that is clear. The lyrical prose spins its web over the crowd in the Globe. Shakespeare's words are different from the Carrionites' - even Martha can feel that. 

The Doctor's power lies elsewhere. He's good with words, he can't stop talking, but it's when he looks at her with those fathomless, ageless eyes that Martha is really captured. One glance, one smile, and she'd follow him anywhere.

But the Doctor also is under a spell. And Martha's not sure she knows how to break it; Rose's power is too strong.

**Gridlock**

She's been having so much fun up to now - well, up to being kidnapped - that it's only as she admits to the brevity of her relationship with the Doctor that Martha realises the enormity of what she's done. In running away with him, she's broken all those childhood rules. She knows his planet has an orange sky. She doesn't know where it is, or its name.

And yet, she trusts him to find her. He died to save a hospital packed full of strangers. She trusts him.

Later, when she knows why he lied, she finds she trusts him more.

**Daleks in Manhatten**

"I've seen the way you look at him," says Tallulah, knowingly, girl to girl, and Martha can't deny it. The problem is, it's all looking. She looked as the Doctor fiddled with the TARDIS somewhere between New New York and New York - watched his quick fingers and wide grin and yes, a cute bum in a tight suit. But he's not looking back. He's happy to touch, to hug, to hold hands and run from danger, to tap her on the shoulder and give her tea - but it's all on the surface, and Martha doesn't think she'll ever get deeper.

**Evolution of the Daleks**

They leave Laszlo and Tallulah holding hands in the park and making calf-eyes at each other. Although Martha really wouldn't want a boyfriend who looked like a pig, she can't help but feel jealous. She's learned a little more about the Doctor over the past day - about the Daleks, and the depths of anger lurking beneath the wild surface. It should make her run; it would make any sane person run. Maybe she's gone mad already, but she knows she'll follow him anywhere.

The pig and the showgirl. They ain't got nothing on the medical student and the Time Lord.

**The Lazarus Experiment**

Family.

Her mother is so familiar, smells so right, that Martha wants to scream with pure happiness. She's back, she's survived. And there's the familiar bickering between Tish and Leo, perfectly normal.

But there's the Doctor, by her side, looking impossibly dapper in black tie and trainers, and irrepressible as ever. For them, it's only a day since her dad put his foot down and her mum called Annalise orange. For Martha, it's five billion years in the future and five hundred years ago since she last saw them. And now she's torn - stay with the Doctor, or her family?

**42**

The water, hot and soapy straight from the showerhead, sluices down over her back, washing away the heat of the day. And what a day! A day when emotions ran from the height of happiness to the depths of despair. 

Martha closes her eyes, remembering the excitement of landing in a strange place. The terror of seeing a sun, so close, so hot. The adrenalin of the passwords. The sheer desperation of the escape pod. The terror of seeing the Doctor, infected.

And at the end of the day, the joy of the simple Yale key dropping into her palms. 

**Human Nature**

There's another girl's things in the little attic room, but their owner is not there. Martha puts down her bag and sits on the edge of her bed. It gives underneath her, the springs creaking - unlike her modern mattress at home, or the incredibly soft bed in the TARDIS.

Somewhere else in the building, a man who looks like the Doctor is unpacking books and tweed suits and preparing for lessons. He looks at her differently, speaks to her wrong.

Martha twists her fingers together, and tries to tell herself she's not alone, and that three months will fly by.

**The Family of Blood**

The strange green fire roars down on the countryside, and Martha holds Tim Latimer close. It's comforting to have the warmth of another human body beside her - it lessens, just a bit, the fear coursing through her.

She's not really afraid of the Family and their attack. She's scared of what's happening inside the cottage. John Smith is not the Doctor, she knows that now. He's human. He's in love.

Her fate hangs by a thread; dependent on the terrified mind of a shy history teacher and on the woman he loves. The pendulum could swing either way.

Martha waits.

**Blink**

Martha's eyelids are drooping, and it's not even noon. God, to be out of here - out of the shop, out of this town, out of this time. She's only working in the shop to escape the flat they've found, which is littered with the Doctor's experiments, and to earn some extra cash so they're not relying on the sonic screwdriver. It's only really bearable because - thanks to Sally Sparrow - they know they will get out eventually. She'd hoped 1969 would be slightly more interesting, but the Moon landing hasn't happened yet, and it's turned out to be like anywhen else.

**Utopia**

There's something in the Doctor's eyes that she's never seen before. It's a mix of frantic hope and utter despair. Martha is torn between wishing she had never noticed the watch and praying the Professor is someone the Doctor wants to see.

They run, boots and trainers pounding the corridors of the silo with the roar of the Futurekind behind them. But they are too late. The door is closed, Chantho is dead, the Professor is changed.

The hope in the Doctor's eyes is gone now, disappeared, replaced with deep, dark emptiness. Martha can't help thinking it's all her fault.

**The Sound of Drums**

Taptaptap _tap_. Taptaptap _tap_. 

It's all around, inescapable, the sound of the network. The sound of control. A sound that's ensnared the world - ensnared her family.

She's so angry, angry with herself for getting her family into this mess. Angry with the Doctor for not stopping it. An insane, brilliant alien has her family in his grasp, and her flat's destroyed, and there seems to be nothing her own insane, brilliant alien can do about it.

Taptaptap _tap_. Taptaptap _tap_. 

"What'll it be, love?"

Martha shakes herself out of her thoughts.

"Fish and chips. Two." 

The Doctor'll work something out.

**Last of the Time Lords**

So this is it. This is the end of the road, an empty street in Bexley. Martha's seen far too many empty streets in the past year - newspapers blowing down Fifth Avenue with the skyscrapers high above, dogs scavenging the Champs-Elysées, the mud puddles of Calcutta.

And this is where it's led. The Master, dapper in a black suit with the spheres spinning around his head and brave, brave Tom Milligan lifeless at her feet.

Martha lifts her eyes and meets the Master's gaze. This might be the end of the road, but it'll not be the end of everything.


	4. Season 4

_**Disclaimer:** They belong to the BBC and I am just playing._

_**Author's note:** Season 4 - mostly from Donna's point of view._

**Season 4**

**The Voyage of the Damned**

Is he clutching at straws? Is Astrid Peth, this waitress with the bright smile, was she a straw to be clutched at? Is saying yes to her cruel?

But there is no choice, really, is there? Abandon the poor girl to a life of serving fizzy wine to rich people from Sto, the pompous and the rude and the Rickson Slades of the universe no, he couldnt do that. Absolutely couldnt do that.

Even so, hes not sure if hes right, not sure at all.

Later, as she flies at last, a stream of stardust, he finds that he was.

**Partners in Crime**

She can't believe it. She really cannot believe it. Though she's spent the best part of the last six months trying to find him, it seems impossible that there he is same brown suit, same eyes, same teeth looking back at her through the window. Donna finds herself overjoyed to see him. He can help, and his very presence means she hasn't gone mad after all, something she was seriously beginning to consider.

But though she's overjoyed to see the Doctor, in some ways he's just as scary as he was before. It's not just the suit that hasn't changed.

**The Fires of Pompeii**

In her search for the Doctor Donna had not forgotten the Racnoss, the fire and the flood and destruction. But she had managed to push the destruction to the back of her mind in favour of the miracle of the stars and the wonders he could show her.

Now she stares at the stricken depths in his eyes. How can he speak of such a choice? How can he consider making such a choice?

_The burden of a Time Lord_. As Donna places her hand over his, cool despite the flames, she thinks she understands what he means.

**Planet of the Ood **

It's the most beautiful music she's ever heard, and the most painful. It echoes in every corner of her mind, filling it with grief and loss and captivity. It hurts. She wonders how the Doctor can hear it and not hurt, but then she looks at him and realises he's just used to the pain. Suddenly the alienness of the situation, of this world, of the Ood's song, overwhelms. She longs for the safe arms of her grandfather, the smell of their boring house. Donna Noble, citizen of the Earth, knows for the first time what home really means. Safety.

**The Sontaran Stratagem**

Stand too close and people get burned, Martha had said. She'd nodded, and gone home. Thinking she'd had enough time to warn her mother and her grandfather. Thinking everything would be all right, because she was Donna Noble, she wasn't going to turn into a soldier. Home was where the heart was, and her heart was definitely in Chiswick, with her Gramps and a cup of tea.

But then he'd come, with his sonic screwdriver and his fiddling. As her grandfather struggled inside the car, Donna realised what Martha had meant. Stand too close, and you risk everything you love.

**The Poison Sky**

He said goodbye to her earlier, thinking she was leaving him, and she listened and wanted to laugh because really, he was being such an _bloke_. Just a regular bloke talking about impossible things.

Now, he's saying goodbye and this time he really means it. He's clutching his machine a thing cobbled together from odds and ends that's just saved the Earth and he's saying goodbye. Donna wants to scream and shout but she can't.

Then he's gone, in the blink of an eye, all for the sake of his ridiculous morals. And there's nothing she can do.

**The Doctor's Daughter**

Today's been odd. Any day with the Doctor's odd, but today odder than most. First there was the hand, which was quite the most disgusting thing she'd found yet on the TARDIS. Then the daughter and the revelations that followed; who'd have thought the Doctor could've been a father? And the whole seven-day war thing, though she's feeling more than a little triumphant for working it out.

But the oddest thing was seeing the Doctor with a gun. He said he never would. But Donna rather feels that he _could_ and that's the scariest thing of all.

**The Unicorn and the Wasp**

After it was all over, and they'd deposited Agatha Christie (Agatha Christie!) in Harrogate with the right amount of time between disappearance and reappearance, Donna retired to her room with the facsimile copy of _Death in the Clouds_. She took off the pretty dress and slowly detached the pins from her hair, going through the day. Good party, shame about the murders, she could've done without the giant wasp. She'd kissed the Doctor. That thought got her to her feet, to brush her teeth; anchovies and ginger beer had not been a good combination. Not good at all.

**Silence in the Library**

She spots it immediately the way the professor's looking at the Doctor. Donna's seen that look before; she saw it in Martha's eyes just days earlier, and she sees a version of it in her own eyes when she looks into a mirror. This River Song knows him, and knows him well.

But not her. Donna doesn't recognise the look in River Song's eyes when the professor looks at her. Instead, there's awe, fear, pity, and Donna can't help but feel a shiver up her spine. She's going to travel with him forever so where is she in this future?

**The Forest of the Dead**

He's not all right. He's pretending, and it'd fool most people. Not Donna Noble. He's broken up inside, and she can sympathise.

She'd really loved Lee. She doesn't know if he was real probably not, and though the Doctor's everything had hurt, he was right but she'd loved him. Lee had been sweet, and generous, and he'd loved her back. Now he's gone, torn from her by the Doctor saving everyone. Everyone lives, but not that love.

The Doctor takes her hand, and they go to bid farewell to River Song. They're not all right, but they'll get through, together.

**Midnight**

Donna's enchanted by Midnight from the moment they land (in a cleaning cupboard, which is only just big enough to let them open the TARDIS door). The Doctor finds her a brochure and checks them into a suite with two enormous bedrooms and a lounge with a view of the diamond waterfalls outside.

Rest and relaxation, he says, with a grin. Donna's already picking out treatments. I've always wanted to come here, he adds, throwing himself into a chair and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

But by the next day, neither of them can wait to leave.

**Turn Left**

The sky's burning, the air's full of fumes, half the world's dead, and Donna cannot understand why this girl is telling her she's special. There's such a look in the blonde stranger's eyes a look of hope, and belief, and desperation and Donna would love to be that saviour she's looking for, this brave traveller with the mysterious Doctor, but she's not. She's not. She's just an out-of-work, homeless temp from Chiswick and she knows there's nothing she can do.

And so she turns her back, and walks away, back to her family. Because that's all that's left.

**The Stolen Earth**

Intellectually, Donna had always understood what the Doctor had said about his planet being gone. There was a planet this Gallifrey, a word always uttered with awe and wonder and now it wasn't there any more. She'd understood that.

She had never understood what that meant. Sitting on the steps, Donna realised for the first time how empty the universe was without your planet in it. The Earth, with its dirt and its traffic and its rivers and mountains, and with its people they were part of her. And they were gone, leaving a space that would never be filled.

**Journey's End**

From nothing, there is everything. Donna opens her eyes, blinks, and there is the universe, spread out before her in all its glory and magnificence. And it all makes sense, perfect sense, and she knows without thinking what she has to do and how she'll do it. She can feel the new Doctor, rough-edged in his blue suit, and her old Doctor, all pain and power, and her brain brings them together, clicks levers and hits buttons, and it's wonderful. It's like playing with fire and she's inflammable, she's unstoppable.

She's the Doctor-Donna, and she will be forever.


End file.
